With Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb both signed and sealed, Micah Parsons is the next Dallas Cowboys star in line for a huge payday.
Parsons, however, said he is currently more focused on winning games than signing a lucrative extension with the Cowboys.
“I know I’m going to be a Cowboy,” the star pass rusher said Monday on his “The Edge with Micah Parsons” podcast. “There’s nothing like Cowboy Nation. I think the love is very mutual.
“As for me, I’m just focused on winning games. I want to win those big games. I want to win those playoff games, get to the Super Bowl. For me, the contract is not really what I’m worried about.”
Parsons is in the final season of his four-year rookie contract with the Cowboys, who already have exercised their $21.324 million fifth-year option on his deal. The two-time All-Pro figures to command a deal that would make him among the highest-paid defensive players in NFL history, especially after the record-breaking contracts recently signed by his teammates.
Prescott and the Cowboys agreed to a four-year, $240 million deal hours before Sunday’s season-opening victory over the Cleveland Browns. The contract includes a record $231 million in guarantees and, with an average annual value of $60 million, makes Prescott the NFL’s highest-paid player.
“Congratulations, Dak Prescott,” Parsons said on his podcast. “My mouth dropped. I even told a reporter, I said ‘Goddam, I can never be broke again if Dak Prescott owes me money.'”
Parsons added that he and his teammates were relieved over Prescott’s deal after an offseason filled with speculation over the star quarterback’s future in Dallas.
“We’re happy it gets done because now, it puts a lot of talk to the side,” Parsons said. “We’re like, ‘Man, we got our quarterback now.’ We can really just focus, like Dak said, on winning games…. So having our guys, CeeDee Lamb and Dak done, it means the world to us.”
Prescott’s megadeal came two weeks after the Cowboys also agreed to a lucrative extension with Lamb, who signed a four-year, $136 million contract that makes him the second-highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history.
If he envies his teammates’ new deals, Parsons did not show it Monday, instead heaping praise on Prescott.
“Dak is that guy, no BS,” Parsons said. “He deserves everything that he (gets). He never cheated the game, he comes in every day with positive attitude, great work ethic, and he’s always first one in, last one out. Consistently being the best person-player you could possibly be.
“He never cheats the game, and that’s the most important part. So when a guy like that gets his money, you say he earned every single dollar. I could not be more happy for him.”
Parsons, already a three-time Pro Bowler at just 25, could ultimately land a deal that makes him the NFL’s richest defensive player. San Francisco 49ers star Nick Bosa currently is the league’s highest-paid defensive player with a deal that averages $34 million in annual value.
In an interview Sunday with the team’s official website, Parsons joked that the Cowboys would “probably throw me a little something on the side” if he helps deliver a championship. The former Defensive Rookie of the Year reiterated those sentiments Monday.
“It’s just me being the best player that I can be for my guys, for my teammates,” Parsons said. “If a contract or something like that happens (at some point), then that happens. But right now, we’re going to focus on just trying to be legendary, be great and bring championships back to Dallas.”